Cass Turnbull's Guide to Pruning, 3rd Edition: What, When, Where, and How to Prune for a More Beautiful Garden

by Cass Turnbull

Overview

Prune trees, shrubs, and other plants with the knowledge that will make your plants grow in healthy and aesthetic ways. Covering 160 plants with clear instructions and illustrations, Cass Turnbull will show you exactly how to prune any plant in your garden. This 3rd Edition of Cass Turnbull's Guide to Pruning covers more than twenty additional plants in three new chapters. The result is the new definitive guide for the home gardener with friendly, expert advice from Cass Turnbull, founder of Seattle's PlantAmnesty, whose mission is "to end the senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs caused by mal-pruning."

Here are ten commandments for preventing mal-pruning and other gardening sins:

The Ten Gardener Commandments
1. Thou shalt not shear thy bush.
2. Thou shalt not top thy tree.
3. Thou shalt not plant thy sun-lover in the shade, nor thy shade-lover in the sun.
4. Thou shalt mulch.
5. Thou shalt not leave stubs.
6. Thou shalt not flush cut, neither shalt thou paint wounds.
7. Thou shalt not cover up the base of thy plant, or thy tree, or thy shrub. Neither with mulch, nor with soil, nor with any landscape material.
8. Thou shalt cut circling/girdling roots.
9. Thou shalt not compact the root zone of thy tree, nor trench near the trunk of thy tree.
10. Thou shalt not weed-whip the trunk of thy tree, nor bash it with thine mower, nor leave anything tied on thy tree or the branches of thy tree, as is done in the land of the philistines.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570617942
Publisher:	Sasquatch Books
Publication date:	11/20/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	49,020
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Cass Turnbull has been a professional gardener for 20 years. After seeing so many ruined trees and shrubs in her clients' gardens, she founded PlantAmnesty with the mission to teach gardeners (and so-called professional arborists) about the particulars of proper pruning. She has long been the humorous voice of PlantAmnesty through their regular newsletter. She lives in Seattle and lectures around the country on pruning.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Part 1 The Basics

Chapter 1 Basic Cuts 3

Chapter 2 Selective Pruning Techniques 17

Chapter 3 Suckers and Water Sprouts 23

Chapter 4 Looking For Deadwood 29

Chapter 5 Timing 33

Chapter 6 Pruning Tools 39

Chapter 7 How to Prune Hedges 47

Chapter 8 Principles of Landscape Renovation 53

Chapter 9 The Most Common Design Errors 59

Part 2 The Plants

Chapter 10 Mounding-Habit Shrubs 67

Abelia 68

Boxwood 72

Burning Bush 75

Evergreen Azalea 78

Health/Heather, Lavender, Rockrose, and Broom 83

Juniper 87

Spiraea 91

Three More Mounders: Escallonia, Mexican Orange, and Flowering Quince 93

Chapter 11 Cane-Growing Shrubs 105

Bamboo, Heavenly Bamboo, Kerria, Oregon Grape, and Julian's Barberry 106

Forsythia 112

Hydrangea 120

Hybrid Tea Roses 123

Three More Cane-Growers: Butterfly Bush, Mock Orange, and Red Twig Dogwood 131

Chapter 12 Tree-Like Shrubs 141

Camellia 144

Cotoneaster 147

Deciduous Azalea 153

English Laurel, English Holly, and Photinia 155

Lilac 159

Rhododendron 162

Viburnum x Bodnantense and Beautyberry 172

Witch Hazel, Doublefile Viburnum, and Winter Hazel 175

More Tree-Likes: Pieris and Golden Thread Cypress, Smoke Bush, and Other Stick-Up Plants 181

Chapter 13 Vines 189

Clematis 194

Wisteria 196

Chapter 14 Trees 205

Big Trees 218

Dogwood 230

Fruit Trees 235

Japanese Laceleaf Maple 243

Japanese Maple 247

Magnolia 253

Ornamental Cherry, Crabapple, and Purple-Leaf Plum Trees 257

Weeping Cherry 263

Japanese Pruning of Pines 267

Chapter 15 Ground Covers 273

English Ivy 276

Hypericum 280

Salal 281

Chapter 16 Even More Plants to Prune 283

Aucuba, Fatsia, and Skimmia 284

Ceanothus 286

Daphne 288

Hollywood Juniper 291

Sarcococca and Drooping Leucothoë 294

Strawberry Bush 296

Viburnum Davidii 298

The Whackables: Lavatera, Senecio Greyi, Perovskia, Hardy Fuchsia, and Cape Fuchsia 300

Chapter 17 Three Fruit-Bearers 305

Figs 306

Grapes 309

Raspberries 311

Chapter 18 Taming the Native-Plant Garden 315

Appendix 1 Regional Pruning by Plant Habit 327

Appendix 2 Three Views on Sterilizing Your Tools 335

Index 343

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Finally, the book has arrived that demystifies pruning for event the most apprehensive gardener. Unlike most encyclopedic pruning books that offer formulaic across-the-board advice…Cass Turnbull has written a useful pruning guide that clearly and simply describes how to prune commonly used garden plants to enhance both aesthetics and plant health."
Pacific Horticulture

"Really takes the mystery out of pruning."
The Oregonian

"If you've ever been to a Cass Turnbull class, you'll never forget the lessons you learned there. If you can't make her classes, or want a deeper, fuller, more explicit understanding of how to prune plants for optimal health, this book is for you."
Ann Lovejoy, author of The Ann Lovejoy Book of Northwest Gardening

Editorial Reviews

"Finally, the book has arrived that demystifies pruning for event the most apprehensive gardener. Unlike most encyclopedic pruning books that offer formulaic across-the-board advice…Cass Turnbull has written a useful pruning guide that clearly and simply describes how to prune commonly used garden plants to enhance both aesthetics and plant health."
Pacific Horticulture

"Really takes the mystery out of pruning."
The Oregonian

"If you've ever been to a Cass Turnbull class, you'll never forget the lessons you learned there. If you can't make her classes, or want a deeper, fuller, more explicit understanding of how to prune plants for optimal health, this book is for you."
Ann Lovejoy, author of The Ann Lovejoy Book of Northwest Gardening

From the Publisher